we saw a frog, and other adventures

Our little family had such an amazing Memorial Day weekend. On Friday, we met Papaw Don and Nana Grace with little Grayson McD for some good times at Frankie's Fun Park. Brent and Grayson rode the go-karts twice and played put-put golf. Then we went over the Chick-fil-a for a little dinner. After, Brent, Anne-Kelly, and I went to the movies to try to see the new Shrek film. It was SO cute. How did Anne-Kelly do, you ask? Surprisingly, she slept the first half hour, and after waking, she sat in her daddy's lap, watched the movie, and ate goldfish crackers. I couldn't believe my big girl!

On Saturday morning, we got up and went separate directions, for the morning anyway. Brent went mountainboarding up near Caesar's Head with some friends from church. Mountainboarding, if you're wondering, is similar to snowboarding, but without the snow. It's like a giant, off-road skateboard that you ride down hiking trails. Sound dangerous? It is. I've long ago gotten over worrying about Brent when he's on one of his adventures though. It's just in his nature, and he says that it's not any fun if you're worried about getting hurt....so I just let him go and make sure he has a big disability policy! Ha.

Anyway, while he was doing that, Anne-Kelly and I went to the Greenridge Shopping Center here in Greenville for some quality mother-baby retail therapy. Anne Taylor LOFT, my favorite store, was running a "40 percent off your entire purchase" promotion, so I couldn't miss it. I have been in desperate need of some new, better-fitting clothes for a while. I ended up with a nice pair of dark brown shorts, a cute black tulip skirt, a new blue tank, an adorable summer cardigan, and a pair of sunglasses for four bucks! I then went on to Barnes and Noble and picked up a few books that Brent and I had been wanting to read. One of them is the Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan. He wrote the Percy Jackson series, which we were big fans of. Haven't gotten to start the RP yet, but looking forward to it.

After our morning forays, the entire family met up at Greenridge, left Brent's car there, and headed downtown. We had dinner at a fantastic hibachi/sushi place, The Orient, where we were early enough to catch a special. Loving that! Afterward, we walked around in Mast General Store and then down to Falls Park to check out Shakespeare in the park. They were performing Romeo and Juliet, so we sat down for a while and watched. Not before we stopped at Spill the Beans for some awesome ice cream and coffee, though!

On Sunday, we attended church as usual, but afterward we went out to eat at Tequilas Mexican Restaurant with good friends. Then we made our way over to the mall for Brent to pick out some new jeans. He definitely deserved them! His old ones were worn out from crawling around in boilers or something. After the mall, we came home where I cooked beans, cornbread, turnip greens, fried squash, and sliced strawberries. Yum.

Monday morning dawned rainy and icky. That put a damper on our plans to go up to Caesar's Head for a hike. We packed up and went anyway, hoping the rain would slack by the time we got there. No such luck. When we pulled into the parking lot, we asked a couple carrying their son in a Kelty backpack where they'd gotten their awesome child-carrier and they told us that they got it just up the road at the Frugal Backpacker in Arden, NC. So, being that it was all rainy still, we headed up there to check out the Memorial Day sales on the Keltys. We were lucky enough to find a Kelty TC 3.0 for over 50 percent off!! So after we bought it, we ate the lunch we'd packed, and then went over toward Asheville and the NC Arboretum. The sun shone for a few hours, and we went for a small hike around the property and toured lots of the gardens. If you've never been there, it's definitely worth a trip. We also got to see an amazing photo book display by Tim Barnwell. It made me cry it was so beautiful. I can't wait to get the book. Anne-Kelly loved being in the great outdoors and seeing all the lovely flowers and fountains. She even saw a bullfrog hop into the big fountain and swim around! We also really enjoyed their bonsai garden. However, the sun didn't hold out, and when it began raining, we knew we were ready to go.

After that, we drove home and had leftover beans and cornbread. Doesn't sound too glamorous, but it was yummy after such a long day.

So, as you can see, we had a full weekend, but an amazing weekend. We are so blessed.

Photos are up!

The entire album of Anne-Kelly's photo shoot is up! Check it out here. Just a word of warning: there are some pics of me nursing Anne-Kelly. They are so gorgeous and are done very discreetly (read: you can't see anything!), but if you find that off-putting, then don't click "View All" or "Nursing" under Folders. Just click the album called "Favorites" or "Other."

Photos are available for purchase through the site. That's all! Enjoy!!!!

Like father, like daughter.

I entitled this post, "Like father, like daughter" for the simple fact that Anne-Kelly learned to climb in the last day or two. Brent loves rock-climbing now as an adult, but the stories are many about Brent's climbs up various things as a child. Anne-Kelly's favorite thing to climb is stairs. She figured out how to climb just a few stairs from the sunken den at her Papa Tom's house, but has since graduated to trying to climb our stairs here in our living room. It's time to invest in a baby gate, people.

I'm sort of from the school of thought, however, that I don't want to completely babyproof my house because then she won't learn not to do things. Does that make sense? If you just barricade the stairs, how will she ever learn that she's not supposed to go up them when they are no longer barricaded? There are two ways of thinking about babyproofing, I've heard. Anyway, I think we are definitely getting a baby gate, but we aren't going overboard with all the other gadgets. For example, I only have one cabinet latch, and it is for the cabinet under the sink that has cleaning products in it. The rest of them have stuff in them like pots and pans and tupperware, which is Anne-Kelly's favorite. She drags it all out and has a grand time doing it.

Anyway, looks like this post has gone about as far as it can go. Anne-Kelly is crying and needs her mommy.

A quick update, however. This Thursday we are leaving to go to my parent's farm in Kentucky for the weekend. Joining us will be Brent's mom and brother, his McDaris grandparents (Gary's parents), Aunt Whitney and the kids, and my grandmothers. Possibly my brother too, I'm hoping. We should have a great time, I hope. Or we might drive each other nuts! We'll see. Just kidding about the nuts part, haha. Hope you're having a nice week!

All to Him I owe.

Jesus paid it all

All to Him I owe

Sin had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow.

Have you stopped today to think about what this actually means? It means that we can live life without fear of getting what we actually deserve: an eternity of separation from God. We, and by we I actually mean me, often do not stop to really appreciate what Jesus did when He came to earth and died and rose again. And for who? For you and for me! Hallelujah, what a Savior, as the song on the radio says!

I want to live my life in light of what He did for me, but sometimes it seems so hard to be the mom and the wife and the daughter of God that I want to be. I look at my daughter in her attempts to learn to crawl and to stand up, and I can't help but feel like I'm just like that so many days in my life with Christ: a baby just learning to stand. But that's the beauty of grace. That's the whole point. We can't do it. We can never reach it, and yet Jesus died for us so we didn't have to strive in vain.

Do you know Jesus? If not, consider inviting Him into your life today.


A quick update, as I need to go to bed:

We've had Brent's mom here visiting all weekend. It has been a pleasure to spend this time with her, and I am so glad that Anne-Kelly got to see her grandma for an extended period of time. I know it did them both a world of good.

The one year anniversary of my father-in-law's death is coming up on the eighth of this month. It's going to be a very difficult day for the family, I know. Also, it will also be six months since Brent's dad's brother, Dale, passed away. As you might have read in prior blog entries, both had brain cancer.

We still do not always comprehend why God allowed this to happen in the life of our family, but we are confident that He has used it and will continue to use it to grow us, teach us, and draw others to himself through this entire experience. As Sara Groves said in one of my favorite songs: "I can't say that life will always go like it should/but I can say that God is always good." Amen. He is good, and we are thankful.

If you're looking for photos from Easter, or actually, from anything in the life of our family lately, there won't be any for a little while, as our camera is currently in the shop. Don't worry! Grandmas have been taking up the slack, but I don't actually have the photos on a disc to upload. I'm working on trying to procure them before too long, however. Also, I have some adorable photos from our Disney trip a few weeks ago that I would like to get up here before long. Be looking for those.

On the schedule for this week is watching one of Grayson's t-ball games tomorrow, mom and baby yoga on Tuesday as well as my Mothers of Preschoolers group at church, a dentist appointment Wednesday (ick!), and lots of fun play time in between. Hasn't God blessed us with tremendous weather lately? I hope it continues this week.

To close, an Easter haiku:

Blessings overflow
A husband, baby, Savior.
Thanks to God alone.

I know what it looks like.

I realize that it seems as if I've dropped off the face of the earth. I haven't, I promise. Spring cleaning has ensued, and almost-crawling has begun, and mom's leisure time has disappeared. Hang on, photos are coming. And it will all be worth it. Happy April!

Jumping, sunshine, and green bean tricks.

Yay! The sun was out today! For the first time in several days, it hasn't been dreary, cold, wet, etc. I was so thankful. Yesterday, I dropped by Whole Foods to pick up a few things, and I bought a lovely bunch of flowers just because I needed a shot of spring! Those of you that know me well know that I am really not a fan of hot weather. I would actually much prefer cold temperatures to warm ones, but I get in a serious funk without sunshine. Most likely due to the fact that I was raised on a big ol' farm, I have to have a good dose of yummy, sunny fresh air in my lungs to keep my body functioning properly. And I got it today :) Thanks, Lord.

Also new on the agenda today was the discovery of a baby jumper that our neighbor gave to us. I initially thought jumpers were a bad idea (in case you don't know what they are, they're those things that hang from a doorway that a kid sits in and bounces around), but Brent, my wonderful engineering husband, did numerous safety tests on the thing and then reassured me that it was safe and sound. I still don't like the idea of putting her in it without watching her closely, but since she's been so fussy in her Exersaucer (see earlier post) I thought I would give it a try.

Well, hallelujah! When we put her in it, she went crazy. You would have thought we'd let the kid drink a mountain dew or something. She started spinning and bouncing and just going reasonably insane. It was all pretty wonderful and cute to watch. I'm hoping to post the video once I have a chance to upload what's on our camera.

On a separate note, I decided to give Anne-Kelly green beans for the second time ever tonight. I haven't really mentioned it here yet, but Anne-Kelly is not a fan of the green veggies. She hates peas so much that she projectile vomits them out if I try and feed them to her. I'd say it more nicely, but there's really no other accurate description, ha. Green beans, however, are just sort of a "I really don't like these so I think I'll grimace until you give me pears" abhorrence. Therefore, being the genius supermom that I am, I decided to give her some pears and cereal with a side of green beans tonight. And here's how it went: two bites of pears, one bite of green beans, two bites of pears, one bite of green beans, two bites of pears, one bite of green beans. And it continued. Believe it or not, it worked! I thought she'd be too smart for me and see through my sly tricks, but she didn't. So now I'm giving myself a pat on the back. That's today's big accomplishment for me. Is that sad? I don't think so.

Anyway, the blog stops here because I have to head for bed. It's nearly ten-thirty, and I'm trying to get up with Brent every morning at 5:45 to start the day now. It's hard, but I get so much more accomplished when I get up early. It also allows Brent and me to spend some time together in the Word before he leaves for work at 6:30. And we find that time invaluable. I can't imagine a better way to start my day.

A day with "baby Kelly"

As you know, the biggest snow to sweep through the southeast came through in the last few days. Well, it was more like ice for us, but that's neither here nor there. Naturally, because we live in South Carolina, all services at our church, Simpsonville First Baptist, were cancelled. For those of you reading that are thinking, "What? You got one soggy inch of ice!" Let me explain something about us southerners. We are terrified of snow. To us, driving in a light dusting is simply unthinkable and probably up there on the danger scale with something as crazy as skydiving or setting yourself on fire. Ok, so maybe I'm being a bit facetious. But either way, services were cancelled.


However, I'm lucky to be married to my husband, Mr. Adventure. Mr. Adventure stayed in the house yesterday until about 11 am, at which point he declared that he had cabin fever and "had to get out of here!" So after about two more hours of showering, packing up baby stuff, agonizing over whether we should actually go out, and finally deciding it was safe enough for us to go, we set off for Barnes and Noble. By the time we arrived, it was already 10 after five, and there was a sign on the door that said B&N was closing at six o'clock. Guess what? Due to snow! Bah humbug. "Ok, let's go get some Chick-Fil-A," we said then. So we load everything back into the car and set off for Chick-Fil-A, only to see that the sign is not lit. Closed for snow. You've got to be kidding me, I think. So finally we swing by Whole Foods to grab a bite. Just closed at six. Bummer. However, for Mr. Adventure, the trip to Whole Foods wasn't a total loss as the entire parking lot was empty and a solid sheet of ice. To my unfortunate surprise, he decided to take our car straight across the icy parking lot, with true Mr. Adventure style and flair. What this means is that he did anything possible to scare me, Mrs. Cause-and-Effect, you might call me. When we finally made it out of that parking lot alive, we drove down the road to Publix, which was in fact open. We bought one of those Bird's Eye Steam Fresh Meals for Two. This is Mr. Adventure's idea of cooking for me. I appreciate it.

Then we go home to put the little sweet potato to bed. Well, little sweet potato has other plans, since she's currently cutting her second tooth. Needless to say, she didn't go completely to sleep until we did, which was around 11:30. It was a long night, to say the least.

Today, however, we had a great day, in spite of our church's services being cancelled. We met friends from church for lunch at an Italian pizza and grinders place for lunch. After, we headed over to Papa Don and Nana's. These are Gary's parents for those of you who don't know. Nana made us a yummy dinner and followed it up with a delicious banana pudding. Yup, you heard right! We had two amazing banana puddings in one weekend. I guess karma or whatever you'd like to call it wanted to tempt me twice. This time, I did sneak one bite of the banana pudding. I just couldn't help myself. The meringue was too beautiful.

Anyhow, Grayson and Tinsley, son and daughter of Dale, Gary's brother, and Whitney, came over to Nana and Papa's soon after we did. Tinsley loves Anne-Kelly, or "baby Kelly," as she deemed her shortly after her arrival into the world. Tinsley is almost exactly two years older than Anne-Kelly. Her birthday is June 27. Anne-Kelly's is June 17. Anyway, the kids played all afternoon. And by the kids, I mean Anne-Kelly, Tinsley, Grayson, and Brent. Brent and Grayson played basketball, Grayson's new-found passion, and Tinsley entertained Anne-Kelly with various stunts and vocalizations. It was a great evening for everyone. Whitney, Nana, and I also got to have a good talk. As you all know, it's been a rough year for all in the McDaris family, but especially Nana, as she lost both her sons, and Whitney who just lost Dale, her husband, October 8.

But these small gatherings are good for all of us, as the kids keep our family feeling somewhat normal, in spite of all that has happened. As Nana said, the children are what keep her going. So, with that thought in mind, I leave you with a few adorable pictures of our beloved munchkins.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

...but the fire at Tom and Charlotte's last night was delightful! For those of you who aren't familiar with the McDaris family tree, Tom and Charlotte are Sandy's dad and step-mom...or great grandparents to Anne-Kelly, if you prefer. Anyway, we went over to their house last night just as the snow was beginning to fall. We had a delicious dinner of ribs, cole slaw, beans, and potato salad, followed up by banana pudding. Brent had some banana pudding, but I opted out since I'm counting my Weight Watcher's points these days. He said it was also to-die-for! We had a ball, as usual, and Anne-Kelly entertained all night. I always joke and say that Charlotte is the "baby whisperer," because she can calm Anne-Kelly more than anyone else. And her great-grandpa Tom never ceases to make her giggle and smile. I took a few photos to share:







Today, we woke up to a small blanket of snow (an inch or so), but mostly ice. That didn't stop us from putting on our cold-weather gear and taking Anne-Kelly out to see her first bit of snow at home. She loves cold weather, as long as she is bundled, and she always sticks her little tongue out into the cold wind. I'm not really sure why, but it's pretty adorable when she does it! :) Here a few photos from our little trip into the great outdoors:








Hope you're enjoying your snow day!

Love love love this quote

“Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express.”

-Joseph Addison

This reminds me not only of Brent and Anne-Kelly, but of my daddy and me. If you, too, are touched by this quotation, comment and share a story about your dad or husband and daughter!

A Few Belated Photographs

Finally uploaded some photos off the camera from this month. One of my resolutions for this year is to take more pictures with my camera and NOT my iPhone. I'm going to try and periodically post them here. Here are a few from the last few weeks, including Anne-Kelly's seven-month birthday and our trip up to Lexington to see Michael and Tyler. Enjoy!

Happy seven month birthday Anne-Kelly! 1.17.10




Mommy's girl. On the ride home from Lexington. She adores putting her hand in my mouth while she eats.

Anne-Kelly's newfound passion. Daddy let her "drive," and she's been wanting to get up in the front seat with him now every time we stop. She giggles, squeals, and occasionally honks the horn. :)


Anne-Kelly even wore Dudley and Toby out!

Brent's new obsession: Wii. Too bad our TV is 27 inches and we have zero funds!

A snapshot Brent took on the way to or front Lexington. My precious girl.

Anne-Kelly and her Aunt Ty. Aunt Ty will probably kill me for posting this one as she had just gotten out of the shower, but I think she's gorgeous sans makeup.

Hanging with Uncle Michael, our favorite medical student.

The Way I See It.

As a new parent, there is a lot to read. Parenting Magazine. Baby Life. Mothering. What to Expect. BabyCenter.com. Babywise. The Vaccine Book. There is literally a menagerie of reading material when it comes to preparing for parenting.

So naturally, being the voracious reader that I am, I read everything I could get my hands on. I agreed with some. Some enraged me. I was glad I read it all.

And with the reading came the synthesis of information and the forming of my own basic parenting principles. This was, and has been, ever-ongoing since Anne-Kelly's birth. I love that my principles as a parent are very organic. Always growing and changing, just as my child is growing and changing. I guess that's just a fancy way of saying that I'm learning as I'm going along.

However, since I've formed these opinions and started putting them into practice, I was surprised to encounter a lot of resistance. This is probably because the parenting principles that Brent and I have chosen to follow are far from the mainstream. It started when I decided to exclusively breastfeed my baby. Then we began our journey into natural childbirth. Then we decided that, because we care about our carbon-footprint as well as our pocketbook, we were going to cloth diaper. Then wearing baby. And since reading even more, I have recently decided to start feeding our family more natural and organic foods. My friends have jokingly been telling me that I need to grow my hair into dreadlocks and start wearing Birkenstocks. Haha.

It's true, I am changing into more of a mother-earth momma. I've always been sort of a hippie at heart. I couldn't help it! I come from a long line of natural-type mommas and aunts (Thank you, ladies!), and I am proud of the parenting principles I have learned from them. Specifically from my own mother and my Aunt Linda. They had it a lot rougher than myself when they were young moms. According to my Aunt Linda, she didn't know a single person who was breastfeeding her baby in Burkesville when she was nursing Melissa back in 1980. And my mom still gets teased for not weaning me until age two. (By the way, the World Health Organizations recommendations for breastfeeding are to nurse until age two or beyond. See more info here.) I have other friends who have natural-birthed their babies or coslept or, like me, cloth diapered, and all of them have stories about how they have been met with so much animosity, disbelief, and even ridicule for parenting in the best way they can. Because that is the bottom line isn't it? That we are all doing the best that we can with the information we've been given.

Wait a minute. There's the key: "with the information we've been given." Ask any mainstream American mom who follows what is largely considered the norm in this country (for example: rigid schedules, sleep training by letting the baby cry it out, formula-feeding or weaning from breastfeeding prematurely, and the like), and she probably won't be able to tell you why it's important to her to formula feed or let her baby cry or keep the baby on a schedule. And it's not her fault. Unfortunately, mainstream medicine is communicating these practices as the only way, rather than presenting formula feeding, sleep training, and weaning as the options that they actually are. That's all I'm asking for: a little openmindedness. Why not, when you insist on supplementing a small baby with formula, does the doctor not also tell the mom she has the option of pumping more to increase supply and then feed it to her baby in an alternative way? Why not, instead of telling a mom she has to let her baby cry alone in his or her crib, does the doctor not also say that cosleeping is an option when it's done safely. Why not tell moms that it is alright to not have a rigid schedule, and that it's actually better to let the baby determine when he or she needs to eat. It's only fair for women to be educated. However, I'm not saying it's the doctor and the doctor alone who is responsible for educating mothers. This is unrealistic. In actuality, it is your job as a mother to educate yourself. Get out there and read everything you can get your hands on. Ask other moms who have children that you admire what their methods were. And do ask your doctor for his or her recommendations as well. However, realize that that's all they are: recommendations. You are the parent and you have the final word. Don't you want to make the best choices for your child? If so, educate yourself.

I'm sure some of you that are reading probably think I'm a raving lunatic, and guess what? That's ok! Because guess what else? These are my opinions, and that's all they are: opinions. And I'm entitled to my opinions, and you are equally entitled to your own. My point is that we are all entitled to raise our children (and live our lives for that matter) however we deem best, as long as those decisions are based on sound information. For Brent and myself, we base much of our decisions on Biblical principle, as well as what our parents have taught us, medical research, advice from responsible parents that we know, and on plain old instinct. And so far, I feel like it's going pretty well. This is what works for our family.

I suppose what I'm saying, and asking really, is that we should all be more openminded and understanding of one-another's differences, especially when it comes to raising children. The way I do things may not be the same as my friend down the street or my cousin or her cousin or the lady that just gave me the eye for breastfeeding in Cracker Barrel. However, we, as sisters in this awesome adventure called motherhood, should be a little more forgiving to one another. As it says in Psalms, we are all "fearfully and wonderfully made," and we should praise the Lord for that uniqueness!

If you're pregnant, already a parent, or just interested in some good resources, here are some that I love:

- www.askdrsears.com - the Sears family of physicians, a trusted source of medical advice
- www.mothering.com - my favorite magazine for moms, has information about anything you could want to know about babies and parenting
- www.kellymom.com - a great breastfeeding and parenting resource
- www.jilliansdrawers.com and www.cottonbabies.com - all that you could ever want to know about cloth diapering and more
- www.babycenter.com - good basic resource for pregnancy and beyond, has great forums to communicate with other moms
- www.etsy.com - fun site for buying handmade essentials for baby and for yourself. It's just a favorite site that I wanted to share!

mmmm....honesty

I won't say, "It's been a while" like I normally do when I begin my blogs. Even though, yes, since Anne-Kelly has been here it always does seem to be a long while between my blogs. Anyway, it's a busy life, and I do the best I can. That's all we're doing, right?

It is with that question in mind that I write tonight. I just received an email from my mother-in-law, Sandy, expressing her feelings about going through the loss of her beloved husband, Gary. It's been a hard few months since his death, and it's gotten even harder. For those of you all who don't know, we lost Gary's only brother, Dale, to a similar brain tumor on October 8, exactly six months to the day since my father-in-law's death. As if the brain tumor diagnoses weren't strange enough, huh?

Anyway, as you can probably guess, this has put no small strain on the McDaris family and those who love them (there are a lot of you out there: thank you!) Getting through the death of one loved one is hard enough, but dealing with two is nearly impossible, it seems. And after I say the word impossible, that verse about nothing being impossible with God pops into my head. But let's be honest. I know that some might consider what I'm about to say blasphemy, but it's the truth, at least for me. Bible verses like that do provide comfort, don't get me wrong. But in the here and now, things do seem pretty impossible sometimes, at least for people like my mother-in-law and our aunt Whitney (Dale's wife) and the parents of both Gary and Dale. And if I were them (which I'm not and can't officially speak for them), I would feel pretty defeated.

So I guess I say all that to say: I'm proud of my mother-in-law and the fact that she is so honest about her struggles. I think it takes a lot of courage to admit that you're not a superhero in your grieving process. No one is, but just like anything else in life, people like to pretend when they're going through something that they're coping really well. However, it's only through admitting our struggles that we are able to really comfort one another. The brutality of being completely honest is so empowering. For example, Sandy helps Whitney because she is so open. She doesn't just quote a bible verse at her and tell her that that should get her through. She tells her that she gets upset and cries in department stores and over ticket stubs. This is all incredibly normal stuff, but a lot of people that are going through it don't realize that it's normal because everyone is afraid to admit it. This also applies to me as a new mom. If other moms who have been new moms didn't admit to me that they too didn't have perfectly clean houses with laundry always done, I would never know that I wasn't a total mess. Sometimes I feel like a total mess, but I know that I'm really not, thanks to friends like Sheena Abrams and Mary Kury and Angie Gibson. And I hope that I can be that sort of comfort to my friends who are about to become parents. People need people. Honestly. God didn't put us all here to not be there for each other. My friends Kristy and Chelsea and Anna are really good at that. So is Alyson Nelson. And more than anybody, my friend Ameroy seems to have this weird sixth sense sort of knack to know when to send me a card. Usually they come on days when I'm feeling completely defeated and I just cry when I open them at the mailbox. Sometimes I feel terrible because I don't send that many cards, but it's just not my thing like it is Ameroy's. And she gets that, and this is why she and I work so well as friends.

So I guess I end this rambling blog by saying that I really appreciate all my good girlfriends that make me feel a little less insane every day. I could not make it without you girls. And I know that you ladies will be the ones who will hold me up should I ever go through something as excruciating as losing a spouse. And please know that I'm here to hold you up as well. So don't be afraid to ask.

And now I leave you with an adorable photo of my darling daughter dressed as a horse on Halloween, sitting next to her cute buddy Cameron....

A fresh start.

I have been meaning to actually start our family's blog back up for quite some time now. We're quickly approaching our due date with Anne-Kelly (3 weeks!), and I feel like a royal failure considering that I haven't started this up earlier.

As most of you know, Brent and I are living in Mauldin, SC, and our family and friends are spread out literally all over the US! So...we decided blogging would be a great way for people to catch up with our growing, changing family :)

So where do I begin? Let me start with a little recap: this has been a crazy year. We moved to SC exactly one year ago, and Brent started working for Duke Energy. He loves his job, which is great -- we couldn't be more blessed in that way. I worked this year as a teacher at Mauldin High School, teaching journalism and writing to kids there. I, however, had to go ahead and take off a little before the year ended at the advice of our doctor. Nothing is really wrong with Anne-Kelly or me, they just thought it was time for me to take things a little easier! I'm going to be staying home with Anne-Kelly next year, which I am super excited about! I cannot tell you how much joy it brings me to know that I get to spend this time with my child. It really is a blessing from the Lord!

On a sadder note, we have also experienced a great loss this year. As some of you know, Brent's father, Gary McDaris, fought a long, hard fight against brain cancer over the last year and a half. However, God saw fit to take Gary home on April eighth of this year. This has been beyond hard for our family to get through, but as Brent's mom has said many times, "God is getting us through this somehow." What a strong mother-in-law I am blessed to have. Her faith in this time in one of life's deepest valleys is truly awe-inspiring. Please remember us in your prayers as we continue the grieving process.

So those are the big things we've been dealing with. But we cling to God's promises, whether the day be dark or full of light: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28.

This has become a life-verse for us, and we claim it daily.

Which brings me to my next point: blessings. We have found it so important in these days of grief not to lose sight of the good things that God blesses us with daily. As Sara Groves once wrote in one of her earliest songs: "It's the every-day miracles/that keep my hope alive." This has been especially true for us. The blessing and impending arrival of a new life in our family is so exciting! From feeling those first little kicks, all the way through to now when she's almost here, we feel so blessed. We are both literally in awe of what God can do in creating this little life. We often sit in bed at night talking and asking ourselves questions like, "I wonder whose complexion she'll have," or "I wonder what her personality will be like," or even, "I wonder if she'll be musical like me or athletic like you?" All these 'wonderings' are fun, and we can't wait to see what's in store for us!

By the way, I also wanted to take time to explain how we arrived at our name choice: Anne-Kelly Grace McDaris. We put a lot of thought and prayer even into what to call this child, and we knew that we wanted the name to have meaning, depth, and a sense of family. We wanted a strong name that would carry her through her whole life well. So let me take it apart for you and explain what her name means for us:

Anne: Anne was an easy choice for us. Brent's mother's entire name is Sandra Ann, and being the literary nut that I am, my best-loved classic book growing up was Anne of Green Gables. Somehow, deep down, I think I always knew that I'd have an Anne. God just gave us all the more reason to use it by making it Sandy's middle name. As far as the spelling goes, for those of you not familiar with the book, Anne of GG always made sure that she was called 'Anne with an E,' so with Sandy's permission, we tacked the 'e' on the end for good measure! We are so pleased to name our child after her grandmother: an amazing woman of faith!

Kelly: Kelly is a name that I had always loved very much. It is the middle name of my grandmother, Patricia Kelly. Mee-ma, as she was always known to us kids, is also an amazing woman of strength and faith as well. I consider Mee-Ma more than a grandma to me: she's been a friend of my heart for my entire life. It is such an honor to name my daughter after a woman who invested so much in me. She was given the middle name Kelly after her grandparents. Kelly was their Irish surname.

Grace: Grace is a special name for two reasons: Brent's paternal grandmother is named Grace, and I couldn't think of a more beautiful name for a more beautiful person. She, too, is a woman that loves the Lord, and I have learned so much of her 'grace' and courage through watching her deal with the loss of her son. Her reliance on God is pretty unbelievable. Also, the word 'grace' itself is one that is so important in our lives: it's a beautiful word-expression of the love God had for us when he sent Jesus to die for our sins. It is our hope that this component of her name will always serve as a reminder of what the Lord did out of love for her.

So, as you can see, we consider her name pretty special. :)

Well, I guess I've rambled enough. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. And feel free to drop us a comment or a note if you'd like. We'd love to hear from you!